Calvin: divine deposits for our neighbors

Saturday, August 12, 2023
Meditation:
    Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
    —2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbours.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, III.vii.5, p. 623 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 1:21-22; Gal. 2:9-10; 1 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, incline my heart towards my neighbors’ needs. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newman: the depth of the story

Friday, August 11, 2023
    Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253
    Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890
Meditation:
    Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
    —Romans 11:33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every passage in the history of our Lord and Saviour is of unfathomable depth, and affords inexhaustible matter of contemplation. All that concerns Him is infinite, and what we first discern is but the surface of that which begins and ends in eternity.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1849, p. 342 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 11:33; John 1:18; Eph. 2:6-7; 3:8-11,17-18; Col. 1:25-27; 2:2-3; 1 Tim. 3:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, though Your Son is beyond comprehension, You have declared that we may know Him. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Spurgeon: caring for the lost

Thursday, August 10, 2023
    Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258
Meditation:
    Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
    —Jude 22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees... Let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), Sermons of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon of London, seventh series, New York: Sheldon and Co., 1864, Sermon 349 (see the book)
    See also Jude 1:22-23; Rom. 15:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let me not forget a single one you have sent me to. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: childlikeness

Wednesday, August 9, 2023
    Feast of Mary Sumner, Founder of the Mothers’ Union, 1921
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
    —Mark 10:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a childhood into which we have to grow, just as there is a childhood which we must leave behind; a childlikeness which is the highest gain of humanity, and a childishness from which but few of those who are counted the wisest among men, have freed themselves in their imagined progress towards the reality of things.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), David Elginbrod, vol. 1, Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1871, p. 50 (see the book)
    See also Mark 10:15; Matt. 18:3; 19:13-15; Luke 18:17; John 3:3-6; 1 Pet. 1:14; 2:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me simple in Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yaconelli: the power of goodness

Tuesday, August 8, 2023
    Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
    —Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The power of goodness is found in the tiny. Since the beginning, God has chosen the tiny over the large: David over Goliath, Gideon and his three hundred soldiers over thousands of Midianites, Elijah over the prophets of Baal, one sheep over ninety-nine sheep. Spirituality is about doing the tiny work of God, little acts, small responses to God’s presence in our lives.
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Messy Spirituality [2002], Zondervan, 2007, p. 129 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 25:40; Judg. 7:2-7; 1 Sam. 17:45-50; 1 Kings 18:18-24; Matt. 10:42; Mark 9:41; 12:42-44; Luke 15:4-7; 2 Cor. 8:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, awaken me to the small opportunities for mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John of Damascus: Thou hallowed chosen morn

Monday, August 7, 2023
    Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
    —John 16:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
Thou hallowed chosen morn of praise,
    That best and greatest shinest!
Lady and Queen and Day of days,
    Of things divine, divinest!
On thee our praises Christ adore
For ever and for evermore.

Come, let us taste the Vine’s new fruit
    For heavenly joy preparing:
Today the branches with the Root
    In Resurrection sharing:
Whom as True God our hymns adore
For ever and for evermore.

Rise, Sion, rise, and looking forth,
    Behold thy children round thee!
From East and West, and South and North,
    Thy scatter’d sons have found thee!
And in thy bosom Christ adore
For ever and for evermore.

O Father! O coequal Son!
    O coeternal Spirit!
In Persons Three, in Substance One,
    And One in power and merit;
In Thee baptiz’d, we Thee adore
For ever and for evermore!
    ... John of Damascus (c.676-749) & John Mason Neale (1818-1866), Hymns of the Eastern Church, London: J. T. Hayes, 1870, p. 105-106 (see the book)
    See also John 16:16; Matt. 16:21; 28:5-7; Mark 16:6-7; Luke 24:46-47; John 20:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I praise You forever.

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Robertson: thinking and action

Sunday, August 6, 2023
Meditation:
    This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
    —1 John 5:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is perilous to separate thinking rightly from acting [rightly]. He is already half false who speculates on truth, and does not do it. Truth is given, not to be contemplated, but to be done. Life is an action, not a thought. And the penalty paid by him who speculates on truth, is that by degrees the very truth he holds becomes to him a falsehood.
    ... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons Preached at Trinity Chapel, Brighton, v. I, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1857, p. 335 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 5:3-5, Matt. 7:24-27; John 13:17; 1 Cor. 13:3; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Thess. 1:3; Jas. 1:22; 2:14,17-22,26; 2 Pet. 1:5-9; 1 John 2:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your truth demands action from me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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